


I am sensing your location

by swallowthewhale



Series: Killervibe Week [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 12:18:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11275191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Caitlin left months ago and Cisco hasn't heard from her since, so it's definitely not her standing in his doorway.Killervibe Week 2017: Free Day





	I am sensing your location

**Author's Note:**

> This was the hardest to write because I had no direction, and it ended up completely different from what I had in mind. I had really wanted to do a dual character study, but this came out instead!
> 
> Title from "Location" by Freelance Whales

[ “When the river of emotions bursts its banks and expectations go over the edges of reality, the brain creates hallucinations.” - Erik Pevernagie ](http://swallowthewhale.tumblr.com/post/161966610600/dailycisco-305-323-yes-you-do)

 

There’s no knock, just a nagging feeling in the back of Cisco’s mind that makes him open the door. Caitlin is standing there, staring blankly like she’s still deciding what to do.

Cisco blinks twice, takes in the brown hair and amber eyes, Caitlin chewing on her lip, and closes the door. He’s definitely hallucinating. It must be that weird new migraine medication Julian gave him.

He ignores the hesitant knocking until he hears a quiet “Cisco?”

He yanks the door back open. “You know,” he tells the hallucination. “I would appreciate it if you picked a different way to haunt me. Preferably without making me get up to open the door every two minutes.”

He starts to close the door again, but the hallucination puts her hand out to stop him, and in Cisco’s limited experience, hallucinations can’t usually interact with their surroundings. “Are you high?” she asks suspiciously.

He lets her in. “Possibly,” he says, and goes back to the kitchen to try and find that container of ice cream he’s sure he has.

“Cisco, why are you high?” Cisco can hear the frown in her voice.

He waves his arm vaguely with his head in the freezer.

She pulls him away with a hand on his arm. “I thought you had the vibes under control,” she says sternly.

He pouts. “Yeah, well, it’s your fault, anyway. I’m still trying to find you.”

Caitlin gives him an exasperated look. “I’m right here.”

He squints at her. “I don’t think hallucinations count.”

“I’m not a hallucination, Cisco.”

He considers this. “No, I guess not. A dream then?”

Caitlin puts her hands on his cheeks and pulls him forward to kiss him on the lips.

He reels back, dazed.

“I’m real, Cisco.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s only happened in my dreams,” Cisco says hoarsely.

Caitlin’s hands drop to her sides. “I think you need to go to sleep.”

He dreams that he’s burning from the inside out.

Cisco startles awake in the middle of the night with a clear head and memories that feel like a dream. He lies there, trying to parse out reality from whatever weird side effects the new medicine had given him. But when he goes to the bathroom, there’s a lump with pale skin and brown hair on his couch. That definitely wasn’t there before.

Cisco falls into a chair when his knees give out, and Caitlin wakes up immediately. She’s always been a light sleeper.

“Cisco? Are you okay?”

There have been maybe hundreds of variations of this night, Cisco sitting next to her on the couch, unable to sleep because Dante is still dead, and Caitlin petting his hair as he cries, and Cisco with his arms around Caitlin because Ronnie’s dead  _ again. _

Cisco’s really not okay.

“You’re real,” he says instead.

Caitlin sits up and pats the spot next to her. He stands and paces across the room. “Yes.”

He stops and turns to face her. “You left.”

Caitlin shrinks into the couch. “I needed to figure some things out.”

“Did you?”

She nods. “I want to come home, Cisco.”

Caitlin might have expected him to smile, hug her, or even question her loyalty. But she didn’t expect him to take a step back with an odd, pinched look. “Things have changed, Caitlin.”

She deflates. “You don’t want me back.”

Cisco’s eyes go wide. “No.  _ No. _ Of course I want you back.” He rubs his hands over his face. “It’s just, things have really, really changed. I don’t even know how to explain it all.”

Caitlin stands, takes a tentative step forward, and holds out her hand. “I missed you.”

Cisco’s face goes all soft. He takes her hand. “I missed you, too, Cait.”

Caitlin slides her arms around his waist and clings to him. She’s always been drawn to people who burn inside, who live on the edge of flaming out, who can melt down the ice around her heart with the sheer heat of their presence.

Maybe they were made for each other.


End file.
